Committee accepts Ways and Means strike‑all amendment to H.243, removes fee changes pending further study

The Committee on Commerce & Economic Development on March 18, 2025 accepted a House Ways and Means strike‑all amendment to H.243 that removes detailed fee changes from the bill and adds a requirement that the Secretary of State study business filing fees.

Representative Bridget Burkhart, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, reported that Ways and Means “amended out our jurisdiction over the bill, by deciding that it was not the right time to take up all the fees and determine how to harmonize all those fees that were in the bill.” She said the committee declined to retain a large fee section because the Secretary of State’s office only recently obtained better filing‑level data and the office’s new information system should give more accurate information on how fees would change if harmonized.

Rick Segal of the Office of Legislative Council described the amendment as a strike‑all that removed the fee‑statute language from the bill rather than eliminating those statutes from law. Segal said several fee statutes that had been stricken in the committee’s earlier draft were “unstruck” by Ways and Means and then removed again in the strike‑all to avoid introducing inadvertent numbering or formatting errors. He also said the amendment adds a sentence to the bill’s business‑study section directing the Secretary of State to review fees collected for various business organization filings.

David Hall of the Secretary of State’s office participated in drafting discussions, Segal said, and helped ensure the conforming language was accurate. The Ways and Means amendment is labeled House Ways and Means Amendment draft 2.2 and is a strike‑all replacement of the committee’s prior report.

On procedural votes, Burkhart said Ways and Means voted 11‑0‑0 on its full report to the committee. The Committee on Commerce and Economic Development then entertained a motion to default favorably on the Ways and Means strike‑all amendment to H.243, draft 2.2; Representative Olsen moved, and Representative Paris Duncan seconded. The committee recorded a vote of 10‑0‑1 on that motion.

The amendment shortens the bill by removing direct edits to a number of fee statutes (including the provisions identified in the draft as section 997 and section 1625), leaving the underlying statutes unchanged while directing a study of fees. Committee members said the fee harmonization work will likely be revisited in a later session once the Secretary of State can provide fuller data.

No changes to statutory fee levels were adopted in committee at this time; instead, the amendment directs additional study. The committee indicated the fee harmonization topic will return for further consideration in a future session when the Secretary of State’s data are available.

The committee did not take final floor action on H.243 at the March 18 meeting; members were informed to watch for scheduling messages about when the body would reconvene for further floor action.